Open Announce

Lobos to Race Top Teams at Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational Friday

by Allison Weiss

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— With five weeks to go until the NCAA Championships, the cross country season for the New Mexico Lobos ramps up this Friday at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational.

The women’s championship 6K race will start at 11:20 a.m. MT with the men’s 8K championship race following at 12 p.m. MT. Both races will be streamed on RunnerSpace.

For the No. 2 women’s team, there will be a total of 24 nationally-ranked teams running in Madison, Wis., with four in the top five and eight ranked in the top 10 (including the Lobos). For the men, the field is equally as competitive, with four teams in the top five, eight in the top 10 and 19 ranked teams.

Running in Wisconsin will be No. 1 NC State, No. 2 New Mexico, No. 4 Northern Arizona, No. 5 BYU, No. 7 Colorado, No. 8 Stanford, No. 9 Washington, No. 10 Notre Dame, No. 11 North Carolina, No. 12 Utah, No. 13 Georgetown, No. 14 Arkansas, No. 15 Syracuse, No. 16 Providence, No. 17 Michigan State, No. 18 Michigan, No. 19 Utah State, No. 21 Oregon, No. 22 Colorado State, No. 23 Utah State, No. 24 Florida State and Furman, No. 28 Wisconsin and No. 30 Harvard.

On the men’s side, running will be No. 1 BYU, No. 2 Stanford, No. 3 Northern Arizona, No. 5 Tulsa, No. 6 Wisconsin, No. 8 Colorado, No. 9 Syracuse, No. 10 North Carolina, No. 11 Iowa State, No. 12 Air Force, No. 13 Notre Dame, No. 14 Gonzaga, No. 17 Villanova, No. 20 Harvard, No. 23 Utah State, No. 24 Oregon, No. 26 Washington, No. 27 Michigan State and No. 28 Georgetown.

The Lobos will run Sarah Eckel, Maisie Grice, Emma Heckel, Gracelyn Larkin, Amelia Mazza-Downie, Ali Upshaw, Elise Thorner, Abbe Goldstein, Samree Dishon, Lauren Bettencourt, Isabella Fauria, Christina Nisoli, Samantha Valentine and Danielle Verster. Of the group, seven will run in the championship race and there will be entries in the B race at 10 a.m. MT.

In the men’s race, the Lobos will run Abdi Abade, Ethan Brouw, Jonathan Carmin, Nehemiah Cionelo, Joshua Galindo, Yehonatan Haim, Abdirizak Ibrahim, Matthew Larkin, Kevin Mulcaire and Awet Yohannes.

UNM women won the championship race at the Nuttycombe last season with 93 points, with Larkin finishing 15th, Heckel 16th, Goldstein 24th and Dishon 26th. In their last race at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational, the Lobos finished second behind NC State, with two runners in the top-10 in Larkin (ninth) and Mazza-Downie (10th) and all five scorers within the top-20 (Dishon 13th, Heckel 16th and Thorner 20th).

Following Friday’s race, the Lobos’ next race will be the Mountain West Conference Championship on Oct. 28 in Laramie, Wyoming.